By João Vítor Marcelo
Data released by the Central Bank of Brazil state that approximately 26% of the country’s population, 56 million Brazilians, is already using Pix, the new payment and transfer tool created by the institution that allows transactions to be carried out without fees for individuals at any time of the day, 7 days a week. In an interview with Dire agency, the professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and doctor of finance, Fábio Gallo, says that this is a natural process of learning for the population. “I believe it is going much faster than we can expect because [the growth in the use of Pix] is very fast and soon many people will start using it more widely”.
Although the tool is already being used by a large portion of the population, companies’ adherence to Pix is still low, representing only 5% of the total registrations. According to Professor Gallo, there are some barriers for the tool to be used more by corporate accounts (PJ). “Once again the traditional system is implementing the Pix, but it is charging companies. Instead of doing the math, banks had to understand that the cost reduction of the operation is so great that it probably already compensates for any loss of revenue that it would be if the fees were not charged, and with that the chance of more easily expanding the use of this technology is lost, because only individuals having Pix does not help, it is necessary to have this disseminated very widely throughout the retail system. This will only happen if the entrepreneur realizes that it is easy and cheap. “
For this year, the Central Bank of Brazil announced that it will launch new features within the Pix. Offline QR Code, Pix Withdrawal, Guaranteed Pix, Scheduled Pix and Approximation Payment (NFC) are the main ones. These new features can attract more people to the tool. The “QR Code Offline” will offer the possibility to make payments using this method,